Agora
Posts in Greece
Drop ‘til you shop
It seems slightly surreal to be discussing whether shops in Greece should open on Sunday when household disposable income has dropped by around 30 percent since 2010 and we have seen the emergence of consumers of need rather than choice. Nevertheless, this is the debate that has been prompted by a new law allowing stores in 10 areas of Greece to open every Sunday.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Economy (341), Greece (519)
NPLs: The Achilles heel of the Greek banking system
Having completed capital increases of 8.3 billion euros, which more than covered the capital needs identified by the Bank of Greece (BoG) under the baseline scenario, the single most important risk for Greek banks remains the non-performing loans (NPLs).
Contributor: Manos Giakoumis
Categories: Economy (341), Greece (519)
Public deficit and democratic duty
“Unless the general public is informed by basic economic theory and by key economic facts, they’re going to make wrong decisions,” Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang recently said in an interview following a presentation at the London School of Economics.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (407), Economy (341), Greece (519)
Samaras shoots, Samaras scores!
“Samaras rescues Greece” – it’s the headline the prime minister and many in his office would have cherished. But Giorgos Samaras, the striker without a club, has beaten premier Antonis to the title of saviour thanks to his injury time penalty on Wednesday, which ushered Greece into the second round of the World Cup for the first time in its history.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (407), Society (149), Greece (519)
Greek-German relations: Perception versus reality
There is currently much talk about what kind of conclusions one should draw from the recent European elections. Across the continent the debate rages about lessons learned from low voter turnout and the unprecedented growth of fringe parties, not all of which deserve to be labelled eurosceptic or anti-European.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Europe (289), Greece (519)